Henry Pollock is among the 25 England players to have signed an enhanced elite player squad contract with the RFU for the 2025-26 season — but Owen Farrell has missed out despite his return from France.
The enhanced EPS contracts — understood to be worth about £150,000 a season — are part of the Men’s Professional Game Partnership and were introduced in October of last year to improve the management of international players at their clubs. Steve Borthwick, the England head coach, only handed out 17 last year, but has now opted to fill his quota of 25 players for 2025-26.
Pollock, the 20-year-old flanker, has been rewarded for a breakthrough season in which he excelled for Northampton Saints during their run to the Investec Champions Cup final, made his first — and thus far only — England appearance off the bench against Wales in the Six Nations, and went on the British & Irish Lions tour. In Australia, Pollock was unable to make it into any of the Test squads for the Lions, being limited to the opening match against Argentina in Dublin and four outings on tour.
The other players added to the group are Fin Baxter, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ben Curry, Elliot Daly, Joe Heyes, Tom Roebuck, Will Stuart and Tom Willis. Theo Dan has been omitted from last year’s cohort, while Ollie Sleightholme, Fraser Dingwall and Chandler Cunningham-South, who were all heavily involved in England’s resurgent Six Nations, can count themselves unlucky to have been overlooked. The contracts can vary from one to three years, but the lengths of this season’s deals have not been disclosed.
Daly is included after excelling for the Lions in Australia before injury ended his tour. Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade are the centres on the list, but Farrell, 33, has not been included after his shock return to Saracens from Racing 92, making himself eligible for international rugby again. Indeed, Farrell is the only Englishman who toured with the Lions this summer not to make the list, while Alex Mitchell is the only scrum half included.
There are 25 other players included in the wider 50-man elite player squad, who will continue to be in England consideration, but who are contracted to their clubs.
“I am pleased to name the players who will receive an enhanced EPS contract this season,” Borthwick said. “These contracts, together with our strong relationship with the Premiership clubs, will continue to play an important role in the ongoing development of England Rugby.”
The RFU confirmed the new club-country deal, worth £33million a year to Gallagher Prem clubs, in April of last year, but the first batch of players was not confirmed for six months. Insiders described a “two-year odyssey” of negotiations. During this time, the England players set up a new body called Team England Rugby to negotiate contracts, splitting from the Rugby Players’ Association. Instead of match fees, which topped out at about £23,000 per man and make England players the best-paid internationals in rugby union, the enhanced EPS players made about £150,000 per season last year and the Times understands the figures remain the same this time around.